Gardens

The park is set in acres of beautifully tended mature gardens and for anyone with green fingers, the quality and variety of plant life is breath taking.

No matter how busy the park gets, you can always find a pretty secluded area in the gardens to eat lunch and enjoy the views.

So even if you have no interest in theme park rides, Alton Towers is still a wonderful place for a visit.

The Tower

The tower (which dates back to the 8 th century) looms impressively in the distance as you enter the park, it remains a semi ruin with the “Hex” ride being located in part of the ruin.

Top 10 Rides

1. Oblivion

   This is the most terrifying ride with a colossal vertical drop. Strapped in, you ascend the track slowly, the car then dangles you face first over the vertical drop before letting you go. I have never managed to keep my eyes open on this ride - the terror is just too great

2. Rita Queen of Speed

   A short ride with a long queue - but worth the wait with an indescribable buzz as the car reaches speeds of 100mph in 2.5 seconds. Tip - check your eye makeup when you get off this ride, it is likely to end up somewhere around your ears.

3. Air

   The most genuinely enjoyable experience - Strapped, and tipped forward to face the ground, the ride glides at high speed around the track - taking you high into the air, giving you the sensation of free flying. You cannot fail to feel exhilarated on this ride.

4. Nemesis

   Just a top class roller coaster - surrounded by imaginative, eye-catching enhancements, as you are swooped over the river of blood.

5. Duel

   Not the fastest of rides, but you are driven through a haunted house, full of creepy creatures, armed with a light gun which keeps score of your hits - enabling you to compete with your family and friends. Top fun.

6. Runaway Mine Train

   Fast, furious and great fun rollercoaster, fabulously adorned to inspire the imagination.

7. Congo River Rapids

   In a round boat, you are sent careering down the river, bashing the sides, spinning beneath waterfalls. Prepare to get wet.

8. Ug Swing

   A great favourite for the children. Individual swings which rotate and rise high into the air.

9. Hex

   This ride takes advantage of the towers history and genuinely spooky décor. Hex relates the tale of the curse of the old oak and you experience a disorientating and stomach churning ride at the end.

10. Submission

    A swinging boat which takes you that little bit further - before you know it, you are dangling upside down. Tip - Women in low cut tops - beware, you may expose more than you want to.

 

I challenge anyone not to enjoy a day out at Alton Towers!

1. Its 85 degrees in March and there are more people driving than when the weather is bad.
2. A 30% chance of rain makes headline news, right below the story about which celebrity has ended up in jail.
3. People are doing the electric slide to rap music on roller skates at the beach and no one finds this at all out of the ordinary.
4. Freeway numbers are preceded by "the," and you know this because the freeway entrance is in your back yard.
5. You are surprised if you hear less than 5 languages spoken over the course of a day, and often more surprised if one of them is English.
6. There is a donut shop on every corner, directly next to a gym with an escalator out front.
7. LAX is an airport and not a method for relieving constipation.
8. You use MapQuest to look up directions to neighborhoods that you have never heard of at least once a month, then laugh at the estimated travel time that MapQuest provides.
9. Your sunglasses are twice the size of your dog, which you carry around in a handbag.
10. The rent of your 120 square foot studio apartment is twice as high as your first mortgage.

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